A downloadable Interactive Animation for Windows, macOS, and Linux

Buy Now$2.99 USD or more

KIDS allows you to move with and against crowds until everyone is gone.

KIDS is a short interactive animation drawn by Michael Frei and coded by Mario von Rickenbach, their second collaboration after the award-winning project PLUG & PLAY.

Play time: between 15 – 30 minutes.

Website: https://playkids.ch

KIDS is co-produced by Playables, SRG SSR and Arte. The game is published in collaboration with Double Fine Presents for mobile devices and computers.

Double Fine Presents
StatusReleased
PlatformsWindows, macOS, Linux
Publisher
Release date May 27, 2019
Rating
Rated 4.3 out of 5 stars
(588 total ratings)
AuthorPlayables
Made withUnity
TagsAnimation, black, crowds, kids, plug--play, Short, white
Average sessionA few minutes
LanguagesGerman, English, Spanish; Castilian, French, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese (Portugal), Russian, Chinese, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional)
InputsMouse, Touchscreen
AccessibilityColor-blind friendly, Subtitles, High-contrast
LinksSteam, Homepage
Mentionsitch.io Recommends: experimental new gam...

Purchase

Buy Now$2.99 USD or more

In order to download this Interactive Animation you must purchase it at or above the minimum price of $2.99 USD. You will get access to the following files:

kids-linux.zip 88 MB
Version 1.1.1
kids-macos.zip 97 MB
Version 1.1.1
kids-win.zip 88 MB
Version 1.1.1

Also available on

Comments

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Viewing most recent comments 1 to 40 of 113 · Next page · Last page
(+1)(-1)

The more I played, the more I wondered, "What is happening?" Then, this question ceased to exist the moment I reached the conclusion of this experience. Not because I received answers, but because the gaming experience was so intensely beautiful that I no longer cared about finding a sense or perhaps a hidden meaning.

It's for games and experiences like these that I love the world of indie gaming. It's precisely these experiences that make 15/30 minutes of your life interesting and vivid.

I know I might sound exaggerated, but I truly appreciated the experience. I will definitely play more of your games.

(-1)

Charles!! <3


(-1)

Got to love crazy little games and this one is crazy haha keep up the good work DEV 

(+1)(-1)

Loved the game, I had vaguely recollections of watching it on YT a few years back but now playing it myself it was so... confusing

Does NOT work on Steam Deck

it certainely did here

 

(+5)(-24)

this should be free

(+10)(-3)

Can you provide an Android APK directly to itch that doesn’t require Google Play Services? I specifically buy games from itch.io to avoid that.

(+6)

what

(1 edit) (+2)

you should make this run on play.date

(+4)

i dont know what just happened but it was cool

(+1)

Amazing. Just... amazing. This game does not pull its punches (and as a very lonely kid turned misanthropic teenager turned barely functional adult, it hit me even harder).

Advice: play the game, then go to the website to enjoy the short movie that adds very interesting scenes.

(+2)

You like a nice history? something that keeps you on and amazed? get this game, its an impossible regret, oh and VERY IMPORTANT! do not see spoilers, see this your our own eyes! it is worth every effort the Dev team has put into it.

Awsome work

(+1)(-1)

Ahhh, the joys of fatherhood. ;{)

(-1)

i to poor but this epic

(+2)

its so hard looking for this game having to type "KIDS game" on google shows nothing useful

search up kids plug and play and that should wor

Or you may just go on the website (link in description on this page) and get a lot of info.

kidsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

That was great. I'll be thinking about it for awhile.

(+2)

why are humans so weird

(+17)(-1)

I love KIDS

(+13)(-1)

wait...

(+2)

lol

(+3)(-1)

kinda sus

(+1)

amazing

(+12)(-1)

i love kids

(-1)

sus

Loved this, thank you for making this!

(1 edit) (+1)

honestly incredible. a work of art. 5/5

(+1)

Awesome, can recommend!

(1 edit) (+9)

made me dissociate for half an hour 10/10

Half an hour? 

(+1)

Amazing that I recognize this because it's been used as a meme format (usually captioned as "I play Destiny 2/League of Legends" stuff lol)

(+1)(-18)

kinda funny but not worth money

(+12)

Nah, any game with the effort put into it (like this one) is worth the cash.

(+1)

this was weird fun. thank you.

(+2)(-3)

i kidnap kids

Kids

(+1)(-1)

do i detect some antinatalist vibes? hope so. the clapping is very pleasing either way. 

(1 edit)

More of a take on human behaviour IMHO, but read what you will into it ;)

(+2)

A sad story where you are in control of slowing down or speeding up 'KIDS', following or running counter to conventional wisdom. You learn how not only does ethics change with group size, your actions feel ethically responsible or irresponsible depending on group size, and the same decision is impossible to make when many 'KIDS' depend on it.

A pretty direct description of how I saw the interactions:

On the individual level, you care about the one you push around. You speed them up and question if they shouldn't have been left alone to fall at their own pace. They stand around holes and you push them in, making you want them to find other holes. You push one through a challenging thing (school?) and wonder if it isn't going too fast for them. Then they fall face-down on the level below (which again has holes).

One the group level, the opposite philosophy takes hold of you. If you don't speed all of them up, you feel bad for letting some remain slow - the level only continues if all have been treated the same by you. Groups get in disagreement about which way to go, and you need to convince all of them to go one way, and you ask if it's the right way. Groups run through the level and find holes, either following the leader down the hole or following them away from it - you can choose who goes down, or it seems so, but the remaining runners are stuck running in a loop. You feel bad letting the others waste time, so you send them all down.

Having sent thousands of 'KIDS' down the same hole, one of them regains consciousness and swims upstream, gathering a few followers. But after a while they all fall down the stream again, being met by the big group and seen as outsider until they jump down the next hole. The group is then lead by a few who are in disagreement again and you can reach agreement, but then a single one disagrees and you can only continue by telling him to agree, against your previous gut feeling. Then you push everyone in the agreed-upon direction.

Hey Playables team!

I saw your interactive project KIDS, and I was wondering how did you create the animation? What software and languages did you use. I am really curious.


Best,
Peter

(1 edit) (+2)

Hello Peter! You can read about our process here: https://playkids.ch/process/

Its a very weird game with a super realistic sound of falling dead body.
Most of the scenes felt weird but its still somehow satysfiing..
Running smoothly and graphics are nice.
(only i had a small issue with exit from the game - game suddenly frozen and had to be exited via app panel cause it doesnt responded)

(+4)

I don't usually rate things on personal opinion - since I know what isn't my taste can be someone else's. But I had just a viscerally bad reaction to this game. The combo of what the game did just was ... not appealing to me, generally ended up making me feel a bit sick (and I don't know why), and I had to close it eventually. So yeah. Not a game for me, but I can see why the actions and progression might be interesting for others. :')

(+1)

I didn't feel sick but I totally get what you mean, this really fucks with your head. I feel a bit weird right now, like "what the fuck did I just go through". The game is supposed to be about crowds, and it puts some things about humans in perspective, because of how ridiculous they are. Anyways, I'm rambling, just wanted to say that I understand and people should look out for it.

(+5)(-3)

EDP's favourite game "Kids"

(+2)(-1)

violated

(+2)

i love the animation!

(-3)

please put ost free download, i love all your projects, i managed to discover an old one, projects.playables.net/tree/

how do you actually pla

(1 edit) (+4)

Thank you so much for contributing "Kids" to the itch.io bundle for racial equality and justice. There's so much in this game to think on, and it was a really memorable experience!

Review is up on my website: https://knavegaming.com/?p=167 

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